Israel and Egypt v. Gaza: fried chicken under the Egyptian border

The ‘Scotsman’ used to be a respected and authoritative daily newspaper serving Scotland, but these days little checking/cross-checking of copy appears to be done by this rather down-at-heel and tabloid title, part of Johnston Press. Take the recent article in the Sunday title of Scotsman Publications Ltd., ‘Scotland on Sunday’, entitled ‘Palestinian chicken run defies Israeli blockade’, Sunday 19 May 2013, and attributed to Fares Akram in Gaza City. The gist of the story – or at least our interpretation of the story – is that Palestinians in Gaza have so much money and gasoline to waste, in spite of a so-called ‘Israeli blockade’ on the entity, that they can spend up to £18 on 12-piece fried chicken buckets (chicken pieces, fries, coleslaw, apple-pie) to be sent for from El Arish in Egypt, through smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian-Gaza border, and then by taxi to Gaza City, some 30 kilometres…